This report outlines the current status of market studies in six Latin American countries, describes good practices and identifies areas for improvement on how to make better use of this competition tool.

The report results from a project, sponsored by the UK FCO, that aimed to understand how market studies were carried out in these six countries and what were the good practices in other OECD experienced jurisdictions. More about the project

Areas for improvement focus on the need for countries to have an appropriate legal framework and adequate resources to effectively perform market studies.

MAIN FINDINGS

All agencies should have express powers to perform market studies, compel information to conduct market studies and impose sanctions if their request is not complied with.

Market studies are an important competition tool that completes and integrates antitrust enforcement activities. However, not all countries commit enough financial and human resources to ensure that their competition agencies can perform these studies.

All agencies should have a clear set of criteria for setting priorities among the markets they could study and should use them in a systematic way. Most of the targeted agencies still have to do so.

Governments should seriously consider recommendations resulting from market studies as they can suggest solutions to address the competition problems identified. In none of the six countries have the governments made a commitment to respond to these recommendations.

The ex-post assessments of the actual impact of market studies can deliver helpful lessons for a better use of this tool. Agencies should start performing these assessments.